“Demi and I Made a Choice to Put the Kids First.” Bruce Willis Proves That a Blended Family Can Be Happy Too

Going through a divorce is hard — not only for the couple, but for the children too. Divorced parents always have to share holidays and vacations with their kids, and having limited time to spend with your little ones can be painful. But actors Bruce Willis and Demi Moore chose to put their differences aside and blend their old and new families for the sake of their children.

We at Bright Side believe that no child should be put in the middle of their parents’ divorce, and that’s why we decided to share this story with you. We hope it will help other families too.

Bruce and Demi were once happily married, but their union lasted for only 12 years.

Bruce Willis and Demi Moore met in 1987, and after only 4 months, they tied the knot. The couple had a fairy-tale-like romance, but unfortunately, that only lasted until they welcomed their first daughter, Rumer. When reality kicked in and their “honeymoon phase” was over, they started being more passionate about having kids than they were about their marriage.

They started experiencing issues when they had a conflict of interest — Demi wanted to get back to acting and Bruce wanted her to be a stay-at-home mom. Demi, however, filmed the movie, Ghost, and became a superstar. And even though Bruce was proud of her work, he wasn’t comfortable with the attention his wife was getting and said to her that he didn’t know if he wanted to be married anymore.

Bruce didn’t want to be the kind of guy that walks out on his family, and Demi’s second and third pregnancies with daughters Scout and Tallulah kept them together. However, that didn’t help them restore their romance, and they divorced after 12 years together.

They didn’t let their differences come between their daughters and continued to support them together as a family.

Bruce and Demi had a largely amicable divorce. Neither of them made the split difficult by obscuring access to their kids, and they decided to stay friends for their children’s sake.

Demi wrote in her memoir that she’s very proud of her divorce and that she feels more connected to Bruce now than she did when they were married. “It wasn’t easy at first, but we managed to move the heart of our relationship, the heart of what created our family, into something new that gave the girls a loving, supportive environment with both parents,” she revealed.

Bruce and Demi also support each other in their new romantic relationships.

After the divorce, Moore married Ashton Kutcher (they divorced in 2011, after 6 years of marriage), but that didn’t stop them from continuing their friendship and co-parenting. They were even photographed together at several movie premiers.

In 2009, Bruce married Emma Heming, the love of his life. Demi attended the ceremony together with their 3 daughters, and that was just the beginning of their journey as a loving, blended family.

Their children are also thankful to Demi and Bruce for making an effort to stay friends.

In an interview, Demi and Bruce’s oldest daughter, Rumer, shared, “I never had to split up vacations or split up birthdays. They always made an effort to do all of the family events still together and made such an effort to still have our family be as one unit, as opposed to 2 separate things, which I think really made an impact.”

“I have a lot of friends who grew up with parents who got divorced at a young age and I watched their parents, like, pit them against each other or have to choose between holidays. And I didn’t have to do that, and I feel so grateful that my parents made it such a priority that we could be a family, even though it looked different.”

Emma and Bruce have 2 daughters together who made the family whole.

The 5 sisters love being around each other. The little ones — Mabel and Evelyn — adore their big siblings, and when they are around them, they completely forget about their mother and father. That’s why Bruce and Emma decided to move west, so their families could be closer to each other and give their kids the opportunity to bond with their siblings.

Demi and Emma respect each other and are thankful for their blended family.

In 2019, on their tenth marriage anniversary, Bruce and Emma decided to renew their vows. Moore was also a part of this intimate event, and Emma revealed that she wouldn’t have done it without her.

“She welcomed me into her family as I welcomed her into ours,” Emma said. “I have so much respect for her. I have so much respect for how Bruce and Demi worked through their divorce to be able to put their children first. I learned so much from that and grew so much from watching that. It was important for her to be there.”

Demi considers Emma a gorgeous woman and a beautiful mother who’s dedicated to her family. “I see her as family who I am honored to call a friend. Our children are sisters and yet there is no name for what our family connection is to one another,” Moore wrote on Instagram for International Women’s Day. “We are mothers united, sisters bonded on this crazy adventure of life.”

There’s no jealousy between them, even if it means Bruce spending nearly a month at his ex-wife’s house.

Bruce, Demi, their 3 grown-up daughters, and their daughters’ boyfriends spent nearly a month together in Idaho at Demi’s place. The family was posting pictures on their Instagram profile, wearing matching pajamas and having fun. This “reunion” didn’t bother Bruce’s wife, Emma, and later, when the actor returned to California to his wife and 2 daughters, they celebrated a cozy Christmas together.

They all get along so well that they’ve become like a tribe.

Even though Bruce and Demi are still friends after so many years, the public still can’t understand how they do it. “Everyone can understand resentment and envy in the breakup of a marriage, but they don’t understand how I can get along with my ex like that,” Bruce revealed. “Demi and I made a choice to put the kids first, and we’re really lucky that it turns out we all have fun together. I still love her, and I have a lot of respect for how she lives her life.”

Do you think it’s possible for blended families to get along? What’s your relationship like with your ex-partner?